Tuesday 6 February
Flatpack Empire
BBC Two, 9.00pm
There can’t be many urbanites in the UK who haven’t puzzled over the assembly instructions for a piece of Ikea furniture, let alone had the odd experience of being funnelled like a mouse in a maze through one of the firm’s vast depot-like stores. For this series, the Swedish company has granted a camera crew “worldwide access” – from their design headquarters in Sweden to Indian furniture factories and Polish sawmills – to film the £33 billion corporate Goliath’s global operations over the course of a year. Perhaps the biggest surprise (and certainly the thing that Ikea wants us most to know about) is their current move – unthinkable previously – into collaborations with prestige independent designers and other brands, such as audio giants Sonos and fashion designer Virgil Abloh. Among the more interesting is a project with British furniture designer Tom Dixon. “It’s not a sofa-bed, it’s a bed-sofa, but it’s really it’s a platform for living,” says Dixon, a mite grumpily, likening his role to that of a “benign parasite, where I can make a living out of this huge beast”. Maybe they’ll call the finished product “the bed bug” instead of the Swedish names that us Brits struggle to pronounce. Gerard O’Donovan
Back in Time for Tea
BBC Two, 8.00pm
Sara Cox heads up this northern edition of the food-oriented time travel show. Tonight, the conditions that working class Yorkshire folk had to endure 100 years ago come as a shock for the Ellis family from Bradford, especially when one of them mistakes a mangle for a pasta maker.
What Would Your Kid Do?
ITV, 8.00pm
Jason Manford puts parents’ knowledge of their offspring to the test, as children are filmed performing tasks exploring creativity, risk-taking and rule breaking while Mum and Dad have to predict what happens next. Simple and dependably entertaining.
Elizabeth: Our Queen
Channel 5, 9.00pm
Documentaries about the Royal family seem to be appearing at an ever-increasing rate. And now here’s Channel 5’s sprawling eight-part entry, covering her life and reign and hearing from former prime ministers, friends, royal household members and special advisors.
Portrait Artist of the Year 2018
Sky Arts, 8.00pm
This week’s celebrity sitters are Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill, model Rachel Hunter and actor Stefanie Martini. But, as ever, it’s not so much the well-known faces as the gentle competitiveness and warm interaction between the contestants that makes this portrait painting competition so very engaging.
Art, Passion & Power: The Story of the Royal Collection
BBC Four, 9.00pm
In the final episode of his series on the breathtaking treasures of the Royal Collection, Andrew Graham-Dixon meets the Prince of Wales and explores the last 150 years – when, as he puts it, “women took charge” and used art to help steer the monarchy through times of turbulent change. It’s also a period in which the Royal family’s changing tastes, from Fabergé eggs to the Queen Mother’s more “daring” art acquisitions, neatly demonstrate “the determined emergence of a modern monarchy”.
Inside No 9
BBC Two, 10.00pm; NI, 11.15pm
The fourth series of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s darkly comic anthology has been a creepy delight. In Tempting Fate they’ve kept one of the best for last, as a team of contractors clearing out a reclusive hoarder’s council flat unleash a terrible curse.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016) ★★★★☆
Film4, 9.00pm
Everything you’d expect from Michael Bay is here with bells on – the macho provocation, the sound and fury, and the diabolical pleasure in reducing everything to rubble and bloody mush. However, as a gruelling epitaph to lives wasted, this true-life Libyan shoot-’em-up starring John Krasinski is maddeningly effective and there’s a strange purity to it.
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) ★★★★★
More4, 9.00pm
Eight Oscars, seven Baftas and four Golden Globes cemented Danny Boyle’s energetic adaptation of Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A as a triumph. The chaotic beauty of Mumbai is exuberantly brought to life to tell the story of an uneducated orphan (an endearing performance from Dev Patel) from the slums who is on the verge of winning a fortune on the Hindi version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
’71 (2014) ★★★★☆
Film4, 11.50pm
Jack O’Connell excels in a near-wordless role as a naive squaddie who gets stranded on the streets of Belfast in 1971 and must throw himself on the mercy of loyalist allies, who are no certain guarantees of sanctuary. It’s a tense, at times almost unbearable watch as we’re wrong-footed all the time by the combinations of terror, guilt, manoeuvring, expediency and revenge that motivate even the most minor of characters.
Wednesday 7 February
My Millionaire Migrant Boss
Channel 4, 9.00pm
Initially, this one-off documentary – following Pakistani multi-millionaire Marwan Koukash as he puts four unemployed Brits through their paces for two weeks, before deciding whether or not to give them a job at his swanky Liverpool hotel – seems like an odd attempt to make The Apprentice on the Dole. But park that knee-jerk criticism right there because what actually unfolds is a thoughtful film in which the tough-but-likeable Koukash refuses to either play to the camera or write off his four eager contenders. That’s not to say that it’s all plain sailing: bubbly Georgia’s chronic unpunctuality soon causes issues, while Koukash, who grew up in a war zone, seems unsure of how to deal with 25-year-old Joe’s lack of confidence. The most entertaining moments, however, come in the hotelier’s relationship with the apparently lazy Heidi, who admits early on that she isn’t really sure why she has to have a job before adding: “I can’t really find out what I want to do.” A less interesting programme would have ensured that Heidi’s role was to infuriate both Koukash and the viewers at home – instead what emerges is surprisingly touching. Sarah Hughes
Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with ISIS
BBC Three, from 10.00am
This harrowing film follows Shireen, a Yazidi woman, as she returns to Iraq with reporter Stacey Dooley for a reckoning with her past. The pair face down soldiers and officials, many of whom seem intent on ensuring that those past atrocities are never mentioned. The final confrontation between Shireen and Anmar, an Islamic State commander, sees the latter squirm blankly as the former finally and movingly gives voice to her pain.
Eurovision: You Decide
BBC Two, 7.30pm
Six lucky contestants battle it out for the dubious honour of becoming Britain’s entrant to the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. Among the hopefuls are a 16-year-old former Britain’s Got Talent finalist, two former The Voice UK contestants and a Eurovision backing singer.
Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It
Channel 4, 8.00pm
The dynamic duo are in Windsor this week, where they meet the Farhall family who can’t decide whether they should sell their four-bedroom detached home.
A Stitch in Time
BBC Four, 8.30pm
This series about the history of fashion comes to an end with a look at the story behind Marie Antoinette’s famously risqué portrait in her chemise. Butchart unpicks the meaning behind the painting, looking at what the unhappy French queen was trying to convey while also considering how and why her intended message backfired. It’s a lovely conclusion to a hugely enjoyable series – here’s hoping for a swift return.
The New Builds Are Coming: Battle in the Countryside
BBC Two, 9.00pm; Scotland, 11.15pm
Richard Macer’s topical documentary concludes with the focus shifting towards those responsible for the Cullham new builds. “Nobody has a right to a view,” states one architect. Maybe not, but as Macer talks to all involved, so it becomes increasingly clear that this is not an issue that can be easily solved.
Girlfriends
ITV, 9.00pm
Kay Mellor’s drama reaches its conclusion as Sue (Miranda Richardson) and Gail (Zoë Wanamaker) discover that Linda (Phyllis Logan) hasn’t exactly been honest with them about her relationship with her late husband.
Harvey (1950, b/w) ★★★☆☆
Film4, 11.00am
James Stewart stars as Elwood Dowd, a middle-aged, wide-eyed dreamer who spends his days getting tipsy with his best friend, a six-foot-three invisible white rabbit called Harvey. His sister Veta (an Oscar-winning Josephine Hull) tries to reform him and a comedy of errors ensues. Henry Koster’s adaptation of Mary Chase’s play is breezy, but has a lot to say about the importance of tolerance.
Tango & Cash (1989) ★★★☆☆
ITV4, 9.00pm
Bringing together two of Hollywood’s biggest action heroes, this silly shoot-’em-up is strangely appealing. Sylvester Stallone is Tango, a slick, sophisticated drug squad cop. Cash (Kurt Russell) is his uncultured rival on the force. And they don’t get on. But when they are framed and sent to prison, they’re forced to work together. It’s pure Eighties bombast, with Yazoo and Alice Cooper on the soundtrack.
Harmonium (2016) ★★★★☆
Sky Cinema Premiere, 10.10pm
Koji Fukada’s subtle, slow-burning thriller tells of how a family’s fragile domestic bliss is forever altered when an old friend comes to stay and teaches the daughter (Momone Shinokawa) to play the titular instrument. It’s an elegant and gripping film, with a tragic twist halfway through, and rightly won the prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival.
Thursday 8 February
James Bulger: a Mother’s Story
ITV, 9.00pm
Opening with the sound of Jon Venables describing in a matter-of-fact manner how he and fellow 10-year-old Robert Thompson beat and stoned toddler James Bulger to death on a railway track, this documentary relives one of the most horrifying murders of the last century in often very difficult detail. Structured around an interview between Trevor McDonald and Bulger’s mother, Denise Fergus, it exerts an awful grip while never quite deciphering the murder itself. Fergus recounts her unimaginable trauma, police and social workers describe their parts in the events and McDonald describes the trajectory of the case, from abduction to sentencing and an aftermath that has seen Fergus surround her house with CCTV cameras and Venables convicted of child pornography offences. The statements of the two killers – both, we are reminded, with troubled backgrounds – in particular are chilling: manipulative, jokey and fearful. The resilience and courage of Fergus, meanwhile, is admirable and unflinching some 25 years on: “The day I stop speaking about James,” she explains, “is the day I join him.” Gabriel Tate
Death in Paradise
BBC One, 9.00pm
Another surreally absurd case for Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon), as the leader of a spiritual retreat is strangled while his fellow members are deep in group meditation.
Trouble at the Zoo
BBC Two, 9.00pm
The images and stories that came out of Cumbria’s South Lakes Safari Zoo last year were deeply troubling, forcing management to step down in the face of evidence that almost 500 animals had died there in under four years. Jack Rampling’s challenging observational documentary follows staff trying to keep the institution open in the face of widespread scepticism and queries whether zoos have a place in modern society.
Dale Winton’s Florida Fly Drive
Channel 5, 9.00pm
Scraping the barrel scarcely covers this new series in which the erstwhile Supermarket Sweep host traverses the Sunshine State to check out Walt Disney World, shopping centres and spiritualists.
Derry Girls
Channel 4, 10.00pm
One of the big comedy hits of the year so far, Lisa McGee’s evocative, ribald sitcom set during the Troubles ends with Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) getting her big break as editor of the school magazine. But with great power comes great and largely unwanted responsibility.
Nazi Victory: the Postwar Plan
UKTV Play, from today
Starting (confusingly enough) on the Yesterday channel next week, this engaging new series explores what might have happened in the event of a Nazi victory in the Second World War, from the fifth columnists planted in the United States through to his plans for concentration camps and national monuments in Britain. The latter forms the basis of this opening episode.
Britannia
Sky Atlantic, 9.00pm
Jez Butterworth’s compellingly berserk drama rampages through its fourth episode as Kerra (Kelly Reilly) is cast out by her father, King Pellenor, for parlaying with the Romans. How dare she betray the Cantii clan? He throws her to the mercy of the Druids – let’s just hope that she doesn’t meet the same fate as her mother. Meanwhile, former Druid Divis (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) suspects that there is more to General Aulus (David Morrissey) than meets the eye.
Lucy (2014) ★★★★☆
Film4, 9.00pm
In this brilliant, bombastic sci-fi romp from Luc Besson, Scarlett Johansson (always worth watching) plays a drug mule who is dosed with an experimental substance that increases her brainpower by an untold degree. Space-time becomes a flick book, and Lucy’s the girl to rifle through its pages. Besson described it as La Femme Nikita plus Inception plus 2001: A Space Odyssey: that’s ambitious, egotistical, and mostly right.
The Hurt Locker (2008) ★★★★☆
TCM, 9.00pm
Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) won the Best Director Oscar (the first woman to do so) for her blistering drama about a bomb disposal unit leading a perilous existence in Iraq. Jeremy Renner is outstanding as a reckless maverick who delights in putting himself in harm’s way, while the jittery cinematography stokes up the suspense to almost unbearable levels. Ralph Fiennes puts in a nice cameo as a military contractor.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) ★★★★☆
Film4, 10.45pm
This startling debut by Marielle Heller shows the funny side of a teenager’s explorations into her sexuality as a 15-year-old wannabe cartoonist Minnie (Bel Powley) seduces her mother’s 35-year-old boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard). Heller’s nimble direction and clever script ensure that the film never paints either Minnie or Monroe entirely as victim or predator.
Friday 9 February
Live Winter Olympics 2018 Opening Ceremony
BBC One, 10.30am
These are interesting times on the Korean peninsula, which will no doubt bring an added frisson to the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea. More than 3,000 athletes from 90 countries are expected to march in the ceremony, which will feature a historic moment when the North and South Korean teams march together under a unified flag. History is also being made with the disqualification of Russia from the contest due to its state-sponsored doping scandal, although, controversially, 169 Russian athletes will still compete under a designated Olympic flag. The setting for the occasion is the 35,000- seater Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium, and the following three hours of coverage comes from sure-footed BBC favourite Clare Balding, who’ll also present highlights on BBC Two at 7.00pm on BBC Two. Team GB has set its sights on a record five medals, including perhaps its first in skiing. It’s expected that North Korean artistes will perform at the ceremony in a spirit of cooperation, and while we can’t expect anything as glorious as Danny Boyle’s madcap mega-party for London 2012, we hope for a memorable kick-off to these historic Games. Vicki Power
Jamie and Jimmy’s Friday Night Feast
Channel 4, 8.00pm
Actor Josh Hartnett joins his co-hosts to whip up a beloved ramen dish as the cookery show concludes its fifth series. Jamie Oliver prepares a game curry before trotting off with pal Jimmy Doherty to investigate a new method of farming.
Requiem
BBC One, 9.00pm
Creepy noises and unexplained presences continue to unsettle incomer Matilda (Lydia Wilson) in this thriller. Determined to find out if she’s the child who disappeared from a Welsh backwater 24 years ago, Matilda begins to anger reluctant locals with her questions.
Jamestown
Sky One, 9.00pm
A dramatic series of events in this episode provides an inkling of the high-stakes in store for season two of this glossy period piece based on the shipments of English brides to the American colonies in 1619. The opener sees Alice (Sophie Rundle) give birth and Jocelyn (Naomi Battrick) face tragedy.
Will & Grace
Channel 5, 10.00pm
The sharp-as-ever sitcom veers into sentimentality with the death of Rosario, the maid that Karen (Megan Mullally) loved to torment. But it’s nicely counterbalanced by Jack’s (Sean Hayes) hilarious funeral speech and a punchy cameo from Minnie Driver.
The Graham Norton Show
BBC One, 10.35pm
There are performers on a well-deserved victory lap feature here. Debra Messing and Eric McCormack soak up praise for the Will & Grace revival (see preview, left), actress Saoirse Ronan basks in the glow of her third Oscar nod, and Keala Settle performs the Oscar-nominated This Is Me from The Greatest Showman.
The Bold Type
Amazon Prime, from today
This fun comedy drama follows friends Jane (Katie Stevens), Kat (Aisha Dee) and Sutton (Meghann Fahy) working at a glossy magazine in New York. In the first episode, Jane is asked to write about her ex, while Kat attempts to convince an artist to be featured.
Grand Prix Driver
Amazon Prime, from today
Michael Douglas narrates this behind-the-scenes look at McLaren’s F1 team during their difficult 2017 season. The four half-hour episodes take us inside McLaren’s mission control during troublesome test drives.
Baywatch (2017) ★★☆☆☆
Sky Movies Premiere, 8.00pm
Baywatch the TV show became a phenomenon, but everything about Baywatch the movie is big, brash and bombastic. Dwayne Johnson is preposterously buff in the role of chief lifeguard Mitch Buchannon, while Zac Efron as new recruit Matt Brody is in full-on idiot mode. A cameo by David Hasselhoff, however, appearing to the strains of Jimi Jamison’s theme I’ll Be Ready, will raise a smile.
Looper (2012) ★★★☆☆
BBC Two, 11.05pm
It’s impossible not to be tickled by the playful logic of this sleek sci-fi film that ticks along with pocket-watch precision. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a “looper” – an assassin whose targets are zapped back to him from 30 years in the future, before his contract expires and his final target is his future self. It sounds confusing, but works, and has a great cast that includes Emily Blunt, Bruce Willis and Piper Perabo.
The Cabin in the Woods (2012) ★★★☆☆
5STAR, 11.20pm
Don’t be fooled by its young cast (including a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth) and stereotypical teenage-horror appeal: Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s clever detonation of the scary movie is very good, with the genre’s most original plot twist in years. The story, however, is a classic one: five friends visit a cabin in the woods, where they encounter more than they bargained for.
Television previewers
Toby Dantzic, Catherine Gee, Simon Horsford, Sarah Hughes, Clive Morgan, Gerard O'Donovan, Vicki Power, Patrick Smith, Gabriel Tate and Rachel Ward